How To Kill Helldrakes (Works On Most Fliers):

[Caitsidhe]

2 Dakkajets on a Waaugh turn. Just rolls so many dice, with a reroll, that they go bye bye

That would do it.

[OrksOrksOrks]

Also, they go dakka dakka dakka, so its more fun.

[LordGrise]

Dropping an entire flight of Tau Remoras on one works pretty good too... ::evil grin::

[MajorWesJanson]

1: 3x Land Speeder with 2x MM each, in a Codex where you can get a Divination Librarian (or ally). 6 TL MM shots, usually fast enough to get rear shots, is not what the Heldrake wants to sense behind it.
2: Tau allies. Twin-linked, Tank Hunter shots from the Quad-Gun (at BS5) plus 24 TL shots at S7 will take down 1 Heldrake each turn. That's 3 Broadsides + Missile Drones, Multi-tracker on them so you don't waste all of their firepower on one target (you could make them even nastier vs Flyers by changing that to a Velocity Tracker), and a Commander with the sensor suits and at least one Drone to fire the Quad Gun. And it's good against infantry/ground vehicles also.
3: Annihilation Barges. They average hitting against Flyers as if they were BS3 S7 shots, due to the Tesla "3 hits for the price of a 6" rule, and at only 90 pts each, they're a bargain for the firepower.
4: Storm Talon. With its all-around fire, once it gets behind the Heldrake, the Heldrake can't even Vector Strike it, and it can keep shooting it in the rear.
5: Lootas. BS 2, BS 1, big deal. Orks don't aim anyhow. On that topic, also the Warbuggies with tlRokkit are fast enough to get behind Heldrakes and twin-linked S8 shots against AV10 is annoying.
6: Spread out. It's far more dangerous when it hits 6 models with the Flamer instead of 4.
7: Terminators and Bikes. Bike squads lined end to end mean it can only Flame 3 at a time. Terminators are more worried about your Bolters than about your Heldrakes.

Counter-tactics for the Baledrake:
1. Landspeeders are 2 HP AV10 models, which the baleflamer can hit 2 at a time and glance on a 4. Vector strike is d3+1 auto-hits that glance on a 3.
2. Tau do have a lot better AA options. 1 hell drake is not a major threat, though multiples are. Stealthsuits, Pathfinders, and infantry are all quite vulnerable to the flamer. Crisis suits at least have a second wound, but two drake could take care of that problem.
3. Annie Barges are nasty. Necrons have little problems, as their cheap night scythes are also quite good at AA as well.
4. Similar to the Landspeeders, though not as easy to kill. D3+1 VS hits that glance on a 4 do nasty things to a 2 HP vehicle.
5. Lootas are fun, and weight of fire, but like most things, vulnerable to the flamer if they are packed in cover, and vunerable to everything else if they are not. Still, numbers are not all that good. 45 shots max at BS1 is 7.5 hits, so 1.25 glance and 1.25 pen. OK, but on average not going to kill a drake.
6. Always true. Not always practical, especially for things that rely on cover like stealth teams, low save models, pathfinders, ect.
7. Terminators are survivable, but don't really have too much that can hurt the Drake in return. And spreading out bikes is fine, but again, not always practical.

I agree. I listen to endless complaints about people saying they just can't kill the Helldrake, but suggest they just pick up (or convert) a dedicated air-to-air killer and they throw a fit. Helldrakes are air-to-ground attack vehicles. Their Vector Strike is the only weapon they have against other planes if they have gone the Baleflamer route. Most other Flyers are mounting three or more high strength AP-2 or AP-1 weapons and make short work of it.

DE Razorwing- 2 S8 AP2 lances.
DE Void Raven- 2 S9 AP2 lances
Valkyrie- single S9 AP2 lascannon, potentially 2 single shot S8 AP3 hellstrike missiles
Vendetta- 3 TL S9 AP2 Lascannons. Acknowledged as broken.
Storm Talon- TL S9 AP2 lascannon or S8 AP3 Heavy 2 Krak or S7 AP4 Heavy 3 Flakk missiles, TL S6 AP4 Rending Assault Cannon
Storm Raven- TL s9 AP2 Lascannon or TL S6 AP4 Rending Assault Cannon, TL S8 AP1 Multimelta. BA version has 4 single shot S8 AP1 missiles, Marine version has 4 single shot S8 AP2 concussive missiles.
Dakka Jet- 3 S6 AP4 Assault 3 Supashootas that are potentially Assault 6.
Night Scythe- TL S7 AP- Assault 4 with bonus hits
Doom Scythe- TL S7 AP- Assault 4 with bonus hits
Nephilim fighter- TL S9 AP2 Lascannon or S6 AP4 Heavy 5 cannon, 6 S6 Ap4 single shot missiles.
Dark Talon- can't hurt the Drake at all
Sun Shark- 2 TL S7 AP4 skyfire interceptor drone shots, 2 S8 AP3 single shot missiles.
Razorshark- S7 AP4 Heavy 4 turret, 2 single shot S8 AP3 missiles.

Only the Storm Ravens in HS slots and the Vendetta have more than 2 AP1 or 2 weapons. Some have 1 or 2, while some fighters have nothing with AP1 or 2.

[rtmaitreya]

Flood the board to keep them from landing in valuable locations. Any horde army should have this in spades. Specifically cover the band of movement including straight ahead at 18" and in a large semicircle at 36". Now when you shoot at it, you destroy the flyer on any result of Stun, Immobilize, or Explode, rather than only Explode. A stun forces straight ahead 18". . . if it can't do it, it dies. An immobilize is harder, because it can still turn but is locked at 36" velocity (unless it only moved 18" last round). This will usually force the flyer off the table if it can escape, and it will be stuck at 36" the rest of the game. Horde troop placement very effective way to double or triple your shooting effectiveness "for free".

[MajorWesJanson]

Flood the board to keep them from landing in valuable locations. Any horde army should have this in spades. Specifically cover the band of movement including straight ahead at 18" and in a large semicircle at 36". Now when you shoot at it, you destroy the flyer on any result of Stun, Immobilize, or Explode, rather than only Explode. A stun forces straight ahead 18". . . if it can't do it, it dies. An immobilize is harder, because it can still turn but is locked at 36" velocity (unless it only moved 18" last round). This will usually force the flyer off the table if it can escape, and it will be stuck at 36" the rest of the game. Horde troop placement very effective way to double or triple your shooting effectiveness "for free".

That sounds potentially useful, at least for immobilized, but the Drake ignores stunned results on a 2+

[Sly]

"Counter-tactics for the Baledrake:
1. Landspeeders are 2 HP AV10 models, which the baleflamer can hit 2 at a time and glance on a 4. Vector strike is d3+1 auto-hits that glance on a 3."

Yes, but the Heldrakes can only VS models that are within 30" or so of their table edge. You keep the Speeders back (or out of LOS, or in Reserve), wait for the Heldrakes to come in, then go behind them (if you can), or at least near them, and take the short-range MM shots. Other units in the opponent army could shoot the Speeders down before, but that's true for almost any AA option out there.

Remember that, against Heldrakes: their VS on their entry turn is limited to 30" or so from their table edge. That gives you 18" or so within which you can move your AA units and only have the Baleflamer to worry about.

[Nightspawn]

4: Storm Talon. With its all-around fire, once it gets behind the Heldrake, the Heldrake can't even Vector Strike it, and it can keep shooting it in the rear.

Why can't the Heldrake Vector Strike the Storm Talon?

[Mr Mystery]

Why can't the Heldrake Vector Strike the Storm Talon?

Positioning rather than ruling. Once a flier is on the tail of another flier, it's really hard to switch positions if your opponent doesn't want to.

[Freakeh]

I've shot my mates helldrake out of the sky plenty of times with my annihilation barges, night sycthes and doomsycthes!